Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-22

about in helpless way. IL Ind paper,
he said; "would you mind looking in the
pocket of my coat there-if there's any
thing left in it,
What sort of a paper was it, inquired
the detective, Supprcssing tremor of the
voice. Anything especially valuable
"Wcl. it represented IA considerable value
Mr. Smith replied The detective felt the
blood rush to his face. "Eou sec, had II
bond that ! bought yesterday the other
went on hating between his sentences, "a
United States 30 for thousand-that
is. five hundred
u at dosn't seem to he here said the de
tcctivc, handing the paper to Mr., Smith. as
there any other place could look for you
1t wouldn't easily he LOST"
"Oh, it was just slip of paper, you
know" MIR. Smith, observed mot more
than thre., or four inches long. Oh ! recol-
waistcoat If YOU would kindly look
there
I'm the pocket Of your waistcoat> How
could you get IA $50 bond into your waist
coat pocket
con, it wasn't the bond itself, you know;
it was the receipt. -
"The receipt What receipt; 4 receipt
for $50 bond" exclaimed the detective
in anxious pcrplexity, and, rs if To SYM
holizc the sudden darkcnng of his horizon,
the wax vesta in his hand went out
The post -otlice receipt, You know re
piled Mr.. Smith, getting to his feet with "A
groan and cropping for his garments. 81
didn't like to carry the thing myself for fear
of an accident, so | slipped it into register
ed envelope and posted it just before star
ed this evening. If it should bc mislaid and
| had no receipt it would be awkward. "
The next evening the detective arrived in
New York and reported his adventures and
misadventures at headquarters
The only thing to be done was to continue
the search for the bond in Mr. Smith 5
house. and how to do this without his know
edge was a problem. The prob abilities all
pointed to its being there, unlc 5 he had de
stroyed it, for if he valued it so highly as
the circumstances seemed to Snow, he would
not he likely to trust it out of his hands,
even TO a safe deposit company On the
other hand if he had wished to destroy it,
he would have done so Immediately upon
getting possession of it. instead of going
through the process of posting it in a reg
istered letter addressed To himself in New
York
While various plans to prosecute the inves
tigatiOn were being discussed. and before any
had been determined on, an event occurred
which seemed to be quite as provii dental as
the railroad accident. This was the appear
ance in morning paper Of an advertise
ment for n private secretary, directing the
applicant 10 call at the street and number
where Mr.. Smith lived. A suitable officer
having been selected, he was at once dis
patched to that gentleman's address. Mr.
Smith had an interview with him: and af-
ter period of uncertainty, he had the dis
tinction of being selected from among a con
siderable number of candidates.
The new secretary lost no time in entering
upon his duties both those enjoined by Mr.
Smith and those in the interest of the Cen
trail office. The former were of n somewhat
singular character. Mr. Smith, it appear
ed was "A collector, and his collection Ger
tainly had the merit of being an odd one.
One part of it that with which the new
secretary was directly conservatives Il
series of scrap books, thirty or more in NUM-
ber containing cuttings from various news
papers dating from ten years back to the
passing day. These clippings were all de
scriptions of crimes committed in New
York, with their attendant circumstances
and consequences. All the crimes in the
calendar, and many out of it, were repre-
santed, and great pains had been taken to
arrange and classify them, and to index the
volumes. Mr.. Smiths idea, to aud in the
realization of which he had hired score
tary, was TO compile volume to be entitled
"A Decade of Metropolitan Crime" en-
bodying the essence of all these excerpts.
accompanied by original comments and dis
QUESTIONS He had already composed a
lengthy introduction and had 40 ori5O RACES
of the book itself but he has, as he ex-
PLANES to the secretary, found the mechan-
zeal labor of writing too wearisome and
had therefore decided to employ al assist
ant who could copy out such portions of the
printed slips rs We're designated for that
purpose and write the rest at Mr.. Smith s
dictation.
Evidently here was employment for dill
igent secretary sufficient to last him AN in
definite number of years and certain at the
liberal salary paid by Mr.. Smith to give
him competence for life But inasmuch
as the requirements of the Central Office
demanded promptnesS in the discharge of
their part of the arrangement, the secretary
gave at least as much pains to gaining the
as to the composition of the decade -
Mr.. Smith had more than the usual variety
of authors, and as the secretary did not
fall into the memorable error committed
by Gil Bias their relations became cordial
The secretary's employer showed really
surprising familiarity both with the crimes
and the criminals of New York, and after
II few days conversation ON the subject,
and as mark of special favor, he introduc-
ed him to "A hitherto unsuspected feature of
his collection.
This was contained in a couple of huge
chests of drawers, such as naturalSts some
times use for the reservation of their speci-
mems. The drawers were shallow and were
divided into numerous compartments. in
each of which was an "objectn with a
descriptive label attached These object,
were nothing less than an assortment OF
what may be termed criminal relics Here
was the revolver or the knife with which Il
murder was committed, n bit Of the rop,
with which the murderer was hanged. q
| pair of handouts used at the arrest of Il
| noted thief "A black MAILING LETTER cent I,